I'm pretty sure your coach has probably already talked to you about this. Let me help you out:

1. Stop trying to KO everybody with one blow. Set your attacks up.
2. You are under utilizing leg kicks. The way you were moving you could've kicked his leg in, out and upside down until you stopped him from coming in.
3. Employ some hit and run tactics for the first round until you can find your range on your opponent.
4. Drop your elbow down on the clinch to control the space for knees and elbows.

I know it's been said to you by your coach plenty, but it really needs stressing (and is something I need to get more accustomed to aswell)... be first! You win fights by appearing to the judges that you're controlling the pace of the fight, not by hitting your opponent as hard as you can. This means ALWAYS be setting up attacks by constantly sticking your jab in your opponents face, maneuvering them with footwork, and making your opponent play your game and move into any little traps you can set them up into. Move to their right with jabs to get them moving left into a hard kick. Take a step back to get them to come forward into a push kick or a sneaky left hook/right hand combo. Frustrate them with light punches to get them to over extend a big right hand and fall right into a knee to the body.

Of course all this stuff really takes being comfortable in the ring so that you can relax and let real fight tactics happen beyond "They're open for my mighty right hand, time to punch!" You can't let yourself get over eager to land hard shots. It's just very easy to get excited when it looks like you can really nail them with something that's going to hurt, throw your biggest meanest attack, and then have it not do nearly as much damage because you didn't give it a nice set up and put your opponent in a vulnerable position for maximum damage.

You've definitely got the skill and physical ability part down so far, now everything else should come with experience in the ring. Good job :)

Of course all this stuff really takes being comfortable in the ring so that you can relax and let real fight tactics happen beyond "They're open for my mighty right hand, time to punch!" You can't let yourself get over eager to land hard shots. It's just very easy to get excited when it looks like you can really nail them with something that's going to hurt, throw your biggest meanest attack, and then have it not do nearly as much damage because you didn't give it a nice set up and put your opponent in a vulnerable position for maximum damage.

Well that's two of us that have said it. I hope it sinks in soon. It took me 4 fights for it to sink in for me.

Thanks for putting up the video, you controlled the pace really well and deserved the win :).

A few questions:
*What weight/height are you at?
*How long have you trained for?
*Is that the usual size venue for amateur events over in the US?

Thanks man , in every fight I learn something new. My first fight I won , by a 2nd round TKO but I was way to tired , so i decided to work on my cardio more. My second fight, I lost by half a point (29.5 - 30 , 29.5 - 30 , 28 - 29) because I didnt throw knees in the clinch.I learned the importance of clinch fighting from that fight Since that fight, my trainers have really been working me with the clinch and knees, and in my third I really used those.In my most recent fight , I won , but I was noticing that I hardly threw any combonations , and my left was abit down,but that is something that I try to improve in my training from now on.

*weight / height - well it depends, I weight in without trying to cut weight for this fight at 166 . If I try to cut , I can get down to about 160.

* training off and on four almost 5 years. I started out while I was in the Army in late 04 , but it wasnt consistance because of field missions . It was until I came back here to the states and started training in late 06 that I was able to train on a regular basis.

* Size , it depends. Where I live amature Muay Thai events are very common.You can find a fight almost every month. Some events are larger, some smaller.

I'm pretty sure your coach has probably already talked to you about this. Let me help you out:

1. Stop trying to KO everybody with one blow. Set your attacks up.
2. You are under utilizing leg kicks. The way you were moving you could've kicked his leg in, out and upside down until you stopped him from coming in.
3. Employ some hit and run tactics for the first round until you can find your range on your opponent.
4. Drop your elbow down on the clinch to control the space for knees and elbows.

Good match keep up the good work.

Thanks for the advice. I was noticing some of the things that you pointed out (especially about trying the one blow knock out) . Each fight is a lesson learned. :)

I know it's been said to you by your coach plenty, but it really needs stressing (and is something I need to get more accustomed to aswell)... be first! You win fights by appearing to the judges that you're controlling the pace of the fight, not by hitting your opponent as hard as you can. This means ALWAYS be setting up attacks by constantly sticking your jab in your opponents face, maneuvering them with footwork, and making your opponent play your game and move into any little traps you can set them up into. Move to their right with jabs to get them moving left into a hard kick. Take a step back to get them to come forward into a push kick or a sneaky left hook/right hand combo. Frustrate them with light punches to get them to over extend a big right hand and fall right into a knee to the body.

Of course all this stuff really takes being comfortable in the ring so that you can relax and let real fight tactics happen beyond "They're open for my mighty right hand, time to punch!" You can't let yourself get over eager to land hard shots. It's just very easy to get excited when it looks like you can really nail them with something that's going to hurt, throw your biggest meanest attack, and then have it not do nearly as much damage because you didn't give it a nice set up and put your opponent in a vulnerable position for maximum damage.

You've definitely got the skill and physical ability part down so far, now everything else should come with experience in the ring. Good job :)

Thanks for the advice. Looking at the fight , I can agree with you that I should have set up combos abit more. I think I only threw 2 (1-2s in the entire fight). I am really going to try some of the things that you suggested in my next fight. I try to learn from every fight!:)

Ok,so my experience in the ring to date is 0!! zip!! nada!!,but i am carded to fight 04 Apr so am looking forward to it.

With that in mind i have a few questions. What kind of game plan did you go in with?? You had the knees in the clinch down pat,but seemed to be a case of hanging on/taking the clinch he offered and putting knees in.The clinch is controlled by elbows yes?? ie moving you opponent around.Was that something you had worked on but didn;t need to use??. Another thing i thought was that the aggressor tends to be the one more favored by judges.I realise you dominated in the clinch and he didn't seem to land anything worthwhile out of the clinch,but he did seem to be the one moving forward,the one going into the clinch.Did you find you were just counter punching/ reacting to what he did?? or was that also part of the strategy?? ie staying relaxed and more going with the flow.

So,as i said at the start,my experience is 0,so forgive any ignorance on my part about ring craft in a fight